A World War Two paratrooper has been reunited with the man who saved his life when his chute snagged on a plane 64 years ago, after his brother's quest to bring the pair together.

A member of the 12th Yorkshire Parachute Regiment, Arthur Cooper, of Belmont, Surrey, was involved in some of the fiercest fighting of the war when he took part in the battle for Breville, Normandy, in June 1944.

On top of that, he could have died before he even engaged the enemy, after his parachute got snagged on the plane when he jumped out in the skies over France.

His life was saved when fellow parachutist Frank McEwan jumped out behind him breaking him free from the aircraft.

In the 64 years since, Arthur, now 85, has not seen Frank and he has also been reluctant to talk about his experiences of the battle in which several hundred Allied troops died.

In 2005, his silence was finally broken when his brother Alan Cooper, 70, took him on trip to Normandy for an Armistice service and he broke down in tears upon revisiting Breville.

On that trip, Arthur told Alan how his life had been saved by Frank McEwan and the younger brother became determined to find the former paratrooper.

After telephone calls, letters and a 180-mile journey from his home in Lincoln, Alan finally found Frank in a residential home in Middlesex.

He then brought the two together at the home last month in what proved to be an emotional reunion.

"My brother was overjoyed when he knew that I'd found him," Alan said.

"He credits him with saving his life and I think he thought he'd been killed out there.

"Ever since I was a kid he would never talk to anyone about the war - if you spoke to him, he would change the subject.

"Everybody that's been through what they went through said it was bloody hell.

"He said he's never seen so many men crying for their mothers.

"Finding Frank was the end of the story, I think it's lovely that he's finally got it off his chest after all these years."